Who is Cairn, and why is he such a prick?

Ok, half that question is rhetorical. I know why he hates me. I AM trying to kill him, after all. And have done so several times. but the point is WHO is Cairn. Almost every jade boss in GW is named Cairn the (insert attribute here). Was he a particularly powerful mursaat that was able to infuse parts of himself into an unimaginable number of jade constructs? Is it just the generic name given to any particularly successful attempt by the mursaat to infuse life into jade? (I understand Cairn is an old English word for pile of rocks, essentially) Is it the invocation of some kind of Mursaat deity? ( I don't imagine a race like mursaat would have deities. Maybe a hero or legend?) I'd like to know if anyone else has ever found anything about this or has any opinions.

Hmm....

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=cairn

In terms of Guild Wars lore, there is no person by that name. What shows up at my link should answer your question though.

Yeah. cute. But like I said, ive already pointed out the meaning of the word Cairn, but that doesn't mean it's not also a name. There are quite a few names in video games that actually mean something in other languages. I've pointed out the possibility that it could, in fact, just mean "pile of rocks", but in a fantasy game setting, it's equally, if not more likely to actually be a name.

Hi There,

Cairns are a type of Jade, and Jades are magical constructs created by the Mursaat.

Several Jade bosses are named "Cairn," followed by a title; an example would be Cairn the Relentless. A cairn is a heap of stones usually used as a marker.

A "cairn" is a pile of stones to serve as a monument or to mark a path, and in this case, it refers to the stones that the Jade Bows are made of.

Therefore there is no person named Cairn.

^^All this info is from the GWwiki. Hope it helps.

Cheers.

Thanks! That works for me. So it's not a name, just more of a title, like "This is a pile of stones. We'll call it Pile of rocks the Relentless". I asked around in game a little and no one really had an answer, but I guess anyone who would know only plays the GW2 demos when they pop out and have dropped off of GW1 :/ Also, I didnt see it on the wiki, but I'll search again. With more effort this time.

Thanks again!

There may be a little more to it. While the term 'cairn' is more general, the context in which it's normally used - at least in fantasy novels - is as a marker for a grave (as a disincentive for scavengers to dig up the grave) when the people doing the burying don't have time to erect a more permanent memorial. It's a common theory that the Jades are powered by the souls of captives infused into the Jade (I don't think it was ever outright stated, but there are a few NPCs that mention being afraid of having their soul put into 'one of those jade statues') so it could be a reference to it not only being a pile of rocks, but a pile of rocks that contains the soul(s) of the victims slain in order to empower it.

off topic, this reminded me of the Cairn of Stones, an abandoned whatchamajig from Nightfall (part of whatever Bahltek was for most likely)

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Mehkun